Gojai massacre

The Gojai massacre was an incident on 26 February 1966 in which residents of Gojai village in Tây Sơn District, Bình Định Province, Vietnam, were subjected to mass killing, resulting in the deaths of 380 people. It is widely reported that the Korean Army's Maeng Ho Division carried out the massacre,¹² but the mark on the "frightening image of the Korean soldier" painted in the corridor behind the memorial tower is similar to the insignia of the South Vietnamese Ranger units rather than that of the Maeng Ho Division, and so there is a controversy that the South Vietnamese army committed the massacre. However, memories of the detailed design of the insignia can easily change over time, so this does not constitute a complete refutation that the Korean army was not responsible.³

Arguments of the massacre theory

On 26 February 1966, it is claimed that the Maeng Ho Division (now the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division) of the Republic of Korea Army, which visited the Bình An settlement in Tài Bình village in Tây Sơn District, Bình Định Province, in southern Vietnam, gathered 380 residents and killed all of them within one hour, leaving no one alive.⁴⁵ The Maeng Ho Division is also alleged to have carried out the Tài Bình massacre, in which 1,200 people were killed in Tài Bình village near Bình An village, in parallel with the Gojai massacre.⁶

Arguments denying the massacre theory